Hallucinations
by xXSapphireDawnXx
Summary: Him? Yeah, you know, he's the one who hasn't been 'cured' from his schizophrenia even after seven years here. Lovino Vargas. And him? Oh, he's just another psychiatrist trying to help the poor boy. Antonio Fernandez Carriedo. What? What makes you think HE'LL be able to cure Lovino?
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this story was inspired after listening to 'Calalini' on repeat. If you haven't heard it, I highly suggest you do, and listen to Kaito's version (it's English) because it's the easiest to understand. It's so sad!**

**I don't fricking care if you think that USUK would've been a better pairing for this story. Using England is too cliché. Besides, the whole schizophrenia thing physically pains my heart so much to think about it. Just imagine seeing people and animals that everyone else can't see, and they threaten you into hurting yourself and family. Some of them are fine, but the majority of them are threatening and just awful in general. And you really do not know that they aren't real and can't physically hurt you, so you really feel as though you have to submit to these threats. You're only violent whenever these creatures threaten you (unless your real personality is actually violent), but back to being sweet and nice at times. You can't ever escape these monsters because they are all in your mind and follow you wherever you go. No peace even in your sleep because once again, they are in your mind. Just imagine that for a minute, and tell me that I am not allowed to use my OTP to make me feel slightly better for writing this in the first place.**

**I have seriously no idea how mental asylums work. So I kinda guessed. **

**•••**

"What do you mean 'you can't see him'?" A ten year old Lovino frowned at his mother, who looked confused. "He's right there," the brunet little boy pointed to an area a few feet in front of his mother. An _empty_ area.

"Ah," his mother replied with a laugh, "you're right. I don't see why I didn't notice him before." Serafina Vargas wasn't in any way worried; it was quite common for a boy as young as Lovino to have imaginary friends. He might've been a little old, but he would surely grow out of it soon. The only thing she found slightly strange was the sheer _number_ of them, added to the fact that her son seemed to prefer to talk to the imaginary friends than real people.

She didn't think anything was out of place. That was her mistake.

**•••**

"My fucking god," Lovino cursed, digging his nails into his palms, "just leave me the fuck alone!" They were hallucinations. _Figments of his imagination_, he had been told. No one else could see the shadowy figures that lurked along them. But if they were only his imagination, then he would have been able to banish them, right?

He had been told he was schizophrenic, and that he apparently had been ever since he was young. People wouldn't normally think of it as something hard, having to put up with these 'imaginary' creatures that were far from imaginary in their mind—they might even think of it as fun, being able to see things others couldn't. That was, if they didn't have the condition.

Every day, they urged Lovino onto hurt himself and others with threats of biting and scratching at him and he ones he loved most. The majority of the hallucinations—as the doctors called them—were animals, but there were a few small girls and boys mixed in. Those were the most frightening, of course.

Despite Lovino being a little over twenty two by now, they still scared him. They were young children, only about nine or ten, but it was as if he had to bend to their will. The menacing fire in their cold eyes was terrifying—if you could see them, they looked innocent at first, but could snap at any moment—as they threatened to kill Feliciano, Marcello, really anyone he was close to.

The most unnerving thing about them was that no one else could see them. In the eyes of the young Italian, they were real, living threats that could hurt anyone around him, including himself, at any time. He couldn't be convinced otherwise; why would he be going through this hell if it was all just inside his mind?

So he succumbed to their threats. At first, people didn't think much of it. Lovino didn't really have a very good attitude in the first place, so it wasn't really surprising when he began to get violent. They just believed he had anger problems, nothing to be worried about.

He had actually been a decent child at first, not cursing in practically every sentence, but that was back when he was still pretty young and hadn't yet developed the mental condition. But _they_ had made him bitter, always threatening him to hurt himself or someone else in his family or they would do it themselves.

Lovino slowly slid to the floor, drawing blood as he pressed harder into his palms, attempting to exterminate any traces of their voices. However, the evil voices continued, laced with smirks, as they taunted him. The brunet's olive eyes flickered open once again, and there he could see the three most often creatures as of now. There was never any peace for him. Not even in his dreams.

**•••**

Antonio hummed as he dressed himself. He loved his job, but it was rather depressing, so he had to keep his spirits up. And if he did anything like humming at work, it would probably drive the patients even more insane. Some of them were paranoid enough, not being able to distinguish the difference between fantasy and reality anymore.

It nearly broke the Spaniard having to see all these clearly wonderful people—or at least they would be without their conditions like this. Paranoia, schizophrenia, extreme cases of obsessive compulsive disorder (or OCD for short), selective mutism, and more: all things he had to deal with. No, not deal with—work with.

He never saw his job as a chore; making people feel at ease was a specialty of his. It wasn't always easy—sometimes it would take weeks to even get the patient to have a simple conversation with him—but even so, he was able to. Antonio had been able to assist with some of the worst cases, helping the one suffering from it deal with it better, even so that they were practically unable to be told apart from the rest of society.

The brunet's phone rang, and he answered cheerfully, "_Sí_?" Antonio could practically hear the British man roll his eyes over the phone as he replied with a, "Antonio, get your arse down here. You're more than half an hour late." The mentioned slightly gnashed his teeth slightly at the sound of Arthur's voice; the two weren't exactly the best of friends...or anywhere close.

Still, the Spanish man attempted to sound cheerful despite gritting his teeth as he spoke, "Ah, I'll be down there soon. Don't worry, Eyebrows!" He hung up, not bothering to say goodbye or anything of the sort. The brown-haired man didn't even wait to hear the blond's annoyed replies.

He would've much preferred it was Bella who had called him instead of Arthur. Antonio was eighty seven percent sure that the Englishman was more insane than some of the patients there, talking to unicorns and fairies and a 'Flying Mint Bunny', whatever the heck that was.

If it wasn't already obvious, he was currently a psychiatrist at Hetalia Mental Asylum. Most people wouldn't believe he was smart enough to have the profession, but since it included working with people, he managed to be able to do it.

**•••**

"Antonio!" Bella, a woman with short, blonde hair, waved. She held up a little paper with all the assigned psychiatrists' patients for the time in her hand as she waited for the Spaniard to come over and retrieve his information. She worked as a receptionist for visitors and clocking in for the employees.

"_Hola_~" he cheerfully greeted, and Bella smiled before responding, "Good morning!" She looked at the paper, scanning for his name before tracing her finger over to the patient's name and room number.

"Ah, Toni! For now, you have Lovino Vargas, room 182!" His smile slipped down a notch as he recognized the name, but he returned to his bright demeanor, hoping that the Belgian girl hadn't noticed, as she would immediately be worried and ashamed the worst. But still: _Lovino Vargas._

It was the name of the young man it seemed no one was able to 'cure'. If no one else could help Lovino, what made them think that Antonio could? Of course, he would try to stay optimistic and hope for the best, but it would still be quite a struggle...

**•••**

**Tell me how it is, please! I'm trying to write a bit darker than I usually do, so I'm not completely into this. Review, fav, follow, all that good stuff! Thanks for reading!**

**Yes, I know it's kinda short...**

**~Sapphire**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay for regular updates!**

**Also, you should note that Romano is honestly my favorite Hetalia character, and that I do not enjoy torturing him. The only one I enjoy torturing is Russia, and I don't like him enough to put him as a main character in any of my stories.**

**•••**

The brunet covered his ears with his hands, trying to block out the mocking voices of September, Mei, and Rei. This was by far the absolute _worst_ of them he had ever met.

Rei and Mei were twins, a boy and girl, appearing about seven or eight, so still pretty innocent. Mei's shadowed-colored hair seemed to flow through the air without wind, reaching about to her shoulders while Rei's was cut short in the typical boy haircut. They looked so innocent, even with their ominous black hair to pale complexion with light eyes the bluish-clear shade of ice. The two twins seemed to always be holding hands whenever they appeared in front of him. But whenever one of their mouths opened, he knew immediately that they would be targeting for something that would hit him hard, such as the fact that people seemed to prefer Feliciano and Marcello over him. How people thought he was crazy because they couldn't see Mei, Rei, and September. How no one would ever like him because of his bitter and rude personality in general.

September was a small black cat that seemed to match with the two twins down to the icey eyes. Being a cat instead of human didn't prevent him from speaking to the Italian, throwing threats after Mei and Rei had already weakened him with their insults. If the two raven twins hadn't been there, Lovino might have had a chance against September. But alas, he couldn't just _get rid _of the boy and girl like magic, and they would probably be replaced by two more after they disappeared any way.

Lovino pressed harder against his ears, hoping to drown Mei out, who was currently listing everything he didn't like about himself. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work, and he was forced to sit in the corner and listen to everything the little girl was saying. Her hand shifted against her brother's, adjusting them so they were tightly clasped together.

Rei giggled, a purely innocent-sounding laugh as he listened to his sister continue to torture the poor teenage boy. The dark-haired girl stopped mid sentence, allowing the dark-haired boy to get his fun as he continued on with what she had been saying. By this point, Lovino was nearly at the point of tears, even being as strong as he tried to be. Why him? Couldn't they go for someone else, perhaps one with less faults? That person wouldn't nearly had be it nearly as awful; they would only have one or two things Mei and Rei would repeat over and over. Eventually, it wouldn't be as horrifying as intended.

"Just shut up!" Lovino yelled, his voice slightly trembling as he shouted at the girl and boy.

The door opened with a click of the lock, and the two twins jumped slightly, though returned to their cool composure after half a moment. They stepped to one side of Lovino—their hands clutched in each other's, of course—and September padded over to the other, acting like he had done nothing. Of course, the feline _hadn't_ actually gotten to do anything that time, but that was only because they had been interrupted.

If any one else had been able to see the four in the room (they could only see one), it would've appeared that the other three were guardian angels for the Italian, but they would've been completely wrong. It was exactly the opposite. The three hated him, and despite the medication he took, he couldn't keep them away. Just one more reason to believe they were real.

**•••**

A shout came from the room he was heading towards, and the Spaniard hastened his pace slightly. Antonio unlocked and opened the door, and was met with pitch black darkness. He flickered on the lights to see a boy sitting in the corner, his knees pulled close to his chest.

Lovino's olive green eyes were glaring at him as if he were the cause of the boy's problems. He opened his mouth to speak and—

"Get the hell away from me," Lovino got to one knee, preparing to stand up. He did just that, drying his eyes with the back of his palm. "Go the hell away," he practically repeated his former statement more firmly this time before crossing his arms over his chest.

Antonio wasn't used to working with schizophrenic patients; the mental hospital mainly had him work with patients that had other conditions. He had worked with one before though, a sweet woman named Katyusha. The hallucinations easily found her weak spots—she was one of the kindest, but most sensitive women to exist—but weren't as strong as he had thought. The Ukrainian woman had only needed a few months before returning back to her everyday life, but with medication, of course.

That was why he was surprised by Lovino's reaction, "But..Lovi," if he was going to try to get close enough to him to help and 'cure' him, he might as well start there, with a nickname, "I'm here to help you..." He was puzzled—hadn't Lovino met with enough doctors to know that they were there to help him, not hurt him?

"Yeah fucking right. That's what all you bastards say," the Italian continued bitterly, "you're all 'let's be nice to Lovino and make him think we're actually like this' and then as soon as I think you might not be one of the bastards, you turn around and are all 'let's tell Lovino all the things he already fucking knows like how everyone likes his brothers better'." The smaller brunet had tears threatening to spill down his face by this point, and his teeth were tightly clenched together. There were actually some genuinely kind creatures like Venezia and Valencia, two small calico cats, so the brunet was always hoping, and having his hopes crushed whenever he met new monsters.

"Now turn around and get your ass out of here," Lovino shouted, pointing towards the hallway that Antonio had come through. The Spaniard was always a little slow on the uptake, but was just absolutely dazed by this reaction. It was just like when he had first come into contact with some of the paranoia patients, except this seemed much worse. The teenager didn't even sound angry like he was meant to be. He just sounded afraid.

So instead of doing what Lovino had demanded he do, Antonio shut the door behind him and made his way over to the corner of the room the former was currently in. Comforting was one thing he was actually good at.

"Don't touch me," the smaller man hissed, backing away from the psychiatrist's touch. However, he was in a corner. There wasn't much space he _could_ back into.

Antonio took Lovino into his arms, carrying him bridal style back to the bed.

**•••**

The Italian probably would have been blushing if it wasn't for the fact that this man was probably one of _them_. The same type of thing as Mei and Rei. Those two had pretended to be sweet and innocent at first, and had gained Lovino's trust. He knew that he shouldn't be so willing to make friends with anything that seemed even the slightest bit similar to the past monsters, but there was always that tiny sliver of hope he had that they would be like Valencia and Venezia.

It wasn't long, though, before the two betrayed him and began using all the awful things they had learned against him. He had scars and bruises from times they had threatened him into hurting himself and others. He was sure some other people who often came into his room did too. He wasn't completely sure if they were real or not anymore—he had completely lost his sense of reality a long time ago, about four years back whe he was first forced into this hell hole. Lovino wasn't even sure if his family was real, if they were just one big hallucination, anymore. That was how bad it had gotten.

But this man placed him gently on the small one person bed in the room, and let the Italian lean against him as he stroked his back whispering calming words.

However, the younger man moved away to the far corner of the bed. Even if he hadn't been like this, his pride definitely wouldn't allow him to snuggle up to this stranger.

Lovino sat back against the bed, crossing his arms as he glanced around the room. He sighed slightly in relief, noticing that the three had disappeared, or at least they had for the time being.

Meanwhile, Antonio sighed in frustration. He wasn't used to people avoiding him due to his cheerful and friendly personality.

This was going to take a while to convince Lovino to be comfortable around him.

**•••**

**Please tell me what you think! Thanks again for reading!**

**And I hope you guys realize this is going to be a kind of short story. Maybe ten chapters at the absolute most.**

**~Sapphire**


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